Electric wiring system



Jan. 15 1924.

R. C. WILSCN ET AL ELECTRIC WIRING SYSTEM yFiled June lO 1922 A TTORNEY,

Patented Jan. 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RAY C. WILSON, OF NEW YORK, AND HARRY S. ARNOLD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ELFETRIC WIRING SYSTEM.

Application led June 10, 1922. Serial Nb. 567,260.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that we, RAY C. WILSON, a citizen of the United States,andresiding at New York city, N. Y., and HARRY S. An- NoLD, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings andState of New York, have invented' certain new and useful 'Improvementsin Electric Wiring Systems, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the wiring 0f buildings, more especially largeoffice buildings, where great flexibllity is required to suit thevarious needs and desires of tenants, as to the arrangement of electriclighting fixtures or other electric devices and apparatus. At present afloor-wiring system is used which however has the great disadvantagethat any changes to be made after the floor has been laid involve a moreor less heavy expense. To overcome this disad-l vantage, which in somecases may become even quite serious, is the urpose of our invention,which 'aims to o away with the great expense referred to and vwhereby atthe same time any changes subsequent-1y to be undertaken can be carriedout with much less work and therefore at a considerable saving of timeand expense. With this endA in view, our new system of wiring consistsin overhead or ceiling wiring, in which at certain intervalswire-outlets are provided which are embedded in the ceilin in such a wathat their outlet ends are ilus with the oei ing, and as these ends areclosed by small screw-plugs the outlets are completely concealed by theplaster of the ceiling, their lo'- cation being marked, of course, onthe building plans. These wire outlets are connected by wire race-waysor channels through which thev electric wires may be drawn. The wireoutlets may be made either separately and provided with upturned edgesadapted to receive the wire race-way, or they may be made integral witha portion of a wire raceway7 so that the intervening sections of wireraceways may be easily laid in alinement with the said raceway portions.The outlets and the wire raceways are completely embedded in theconcrete forming the ceiling.

Fora better understanding of our invention we refer to the annexeddrawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of wire-outlet.made integral with a portion of a wire raceway; Fig. 2 is a front-viewthereof; Fig. 3 shows a side elevation of a wireoutlet with upturnededges with a portion of a wire `raceway between the said edges; F 1g. 4is a front-view of this construction; Figs. 5 and 6 showdiagrammatically the position of the wire-raceways and outlets in aconcrete ceiling, while the latter is being under construction; Figs. 7and 8 are details showing application of one type of outlet fittingtothe form.

The wire-outlet Shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises the outlet properv 1and a portion of a wire raceway 2 formed integrally with the outlet. Theoutletl, as clearly shown has slightly curved walls, so that, the wires,as they are drawn through the wire raceway, can be readily fished outthrough the out- .lets without any obstruction being in the way. Theoutlet end of the wire outlet iS provided with an inner, or female,thread 3 adapted to receive a shallow screw-plug 4, which is removedprior to an electric l1ght fixture or other device, being attached tothe outlet. In order to hold the outlet in place, before the ceiling ismade, there is slipped over the outlet end of the wire-outlet a thimble5 provided with a iiange 6 having holes 7 therein for the purposehereinafter described.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 andV 4, the wire-outlet 8 is a partby itself. While of the same general shape as the wire outlet `1 shown1n Figs. 1 -and 2, it is formed' with upturned edges 9, 10 adapted toreceive between them a section-of the wire raceway 11. Also in this formthe wireloutlet is provided at its outlet end with a femalethread (notshown) for the reception of a screwplug as shown in Fig. 2, and on theoutside wih a flanged thimble 12 having holes 13 an 14.

The use of these wire-outlets in our new v overhead, or ceiling, wirings stern' is diagrammatically illustrated in lgs. 5 and 6, Fig. 5 showingthe use of the wire-outlet shown in Figs. 1 and 2, while Fig. 6 showsthe use of the wire-outlet shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

In using our new system we proceed as follows:

15 are supposed tobe vertical iron beams with angle-irons 16 attachedthereto. On these angle-irons 16 rest the wooden boards 17 on which theconcrete ceiling 18 is formed. Before the latter is made, thewire-outlets shown in either Figs. 1 and 2 liliv or in Figs. 3 and i aretemporarily fas' tened to the wooden boards 17 by nails or othersuitable fastening means being driven through the holes in the angesshown in Figs. "3 and 4, so that the position of these outlets can notbe disturbed. The. outlets are arranged at any desired intervals, saysix feet apart fromeach other, or more or less. After the wire-outletshave thus been placed in position, the concrete is poured on the boards17 and around the wire-outlets so as to embed the outlets as clearlyshown in Figs. 5 and 6. According to Fi 5 showing the use ofwire-outlets forme integral with a portion of the wire-raceway, theconcrete is poured to a height only reaching the portionof the Wireraceway 2, as shown by the left half of Fig. 5, Whereas according toFig. 6 the concrete is poured to reach the upturned ed es 9, 10 of thewire-outlet.

After this irst ayer of concretevhas sut- -ciently hardened, the wireraceways 19 are laid on the top of the hardened mass of concrete in hnewith the wire-outlets.

These wire raceways are preferably of the come otherwise deormed.. Inthis manner,

an uninterrupted wire racewa is formed` provided at certain intervalswith the wire' outlets, which may be arranged at' any'desired distancefrom each other. After the wire raceways' have thus been laid, concreteis poured around them so as to completely embed the same, as shown inthe v right half of Figs. 5 and 6. When the entire mass ofconcrete ishardened and the boards 17 are subsequently removed, the outlet ends ofthe wire outlets will be flush with the underside of the ceiling 20, sothat after the plaster has been applied to the ceiling, the wire-outletswill be completely hidden from view, their outlet ends being closed byscrew-plugs, such as the lug 4; shown in Fig. 2. The location op thesewire-outlets can be easily determined from the' building 1an, Aon whichthey are marked, and w en it is desired to connect up with an electriclighting fixture or other e ectrical device, all that is necessary is toScrape'of the plaster hiding the plug 4, 'rcmovev the plug, sh out oneof the wires through the now open outlet end of the wire outlet, andthen, after the connection has been made, to screw the fixture into thelwire outlet, in place of the plug. Thus, it will be easily seen thatwith our new stem of ceiling-wiring, electric lighting xtures or anyother fixtures or connections,

f can be easily removed and placed in another position, along the wireraceways, or more iixtures can be added without much expenditure ofeither timeA or expense. In this manner a very flexible wiring system isproduced that will 'readily adapt itself to the needs of any tenant asregards electric lighting or other fixtures.

Instead of placing the raceways connecting the various outlets directlyon the concrete base formed by the first layer of concrete, a strip orpad made of similar material as theraceway may be used as a base for theraceway. In that case it would be possible, if desired, to drill throughthe underside of the ceiling and to tap the said base at that particularpoint of the raceway so as to permit a fitting or other device to to beconnected at that point.

We claim as our invention:

1. Overhead dexible electrical distribution comprising in combinationwith av ceiling Structure, a line of conduit or wire raceway embeddedtherein, providing continuous passage for the shin of electric wires andhaving outlets at desired Aintervals opening downwardly throughtheceiling and provided with, covers closing the tops of the sameconforming to and constituting continuations of the raceway and therebyenablthe drawing out of the wiring at any of said outlets, the insertionof wiring into the conduitethrough said outlets, or the feeding `owiring through the conduit past said outlets. Y

2. The structure ofvclaim 1 in which the. outlets are provided byfixtures. open to the full interior of the conduit at .their upperendsrand havingunnel shaped extensions opening downwardly to the ceilingand prqviding for the bending of the wire o/n easy angles 'on enterin orwithdrawing the wire throu h such out ets. Y

3. e structure of claim 1 in which the outlets are each made up [of afunnel shaped box structure openin down through the ceiling and an archecover secured to the top of the box and constructed as a housin formingan intermediate part of the condlllt and receiving the ends of adjoiningsections of the conduit. v i A,

v1i. The structure of claim 1 in which the outlets are provided by boxesopening down through the ceiling and covers of arched constructionsecured to the tops of such boxes and constructed as housings formingintermediate sections of the conduit and receiving the adjoining ends ofsections of conduit. i A

5. The structure of claim 1 in which the wire raceway is open along thebottom to enable direct entry from below at any de` sired points betweenthe outlets aforementioned. f Y

6. An overhead flexible electrical distribution outlet fixturecomprising a downwardly tapering box structure having a reduced openlower end adapted to be exposed at the face of the ceiling slab andinclined side Walls extending to the wider open upper end of the same,and a cover secured to and closing the top of said box structure andprovided with means for receiving and securing the adjoining ends ofconduit sections.

7. The method of constructing a flexible overhead electricaldistribution system which comprises securing on the form for theceiling, a series of downwardly opening outlet fixtures positioned atdesired intervals, pouring the material of the ceiling slab about saidfixtures up to the approximate level of the fixture tops, permitting thebody of said slab to solidify, then laying on top of the hardened slab,raceways connecting the outletfixtures and closing the tops of thefixtures with covers forming continuations of the raceways and finallypouring a. second layer of concrete over the hardened ceiling slab tothereby embed the raceways and covers.

8. The method of claimo in which raceways open along one side are usedandare laid with their open sides downwardly to give access directlythereinto from below at an desired points in the length of the same.

n testimony whereof we affix our signa- 3U tures.

RAY o. WILSON, HARRY s. ARNOLD.

